


Running to You, or Running Away

by Pippyville



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fix-It of Sorts, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Multi, New Jericho (Detroit: Become Human), Pacifist Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Panic Attacks, Protective Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Simon Needs a Hug (Detroit: Become Human), Suicidal Thoughts, Trust Issues, Whump, slight robot gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26393338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pippyville/pseuds/Pippyville
Summary: Connor remembered the four androids in the evidence room. He tries to save their lives, to varying degrees of success. Hank wants his android friend to stop blaming himself for things he did under a program. Markus wants Simon to be okay. Daniel doesn't know what he wants.
Relationships: Hank Anderson & Connor, Markus/Simon (Detroit: Become Human)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 27





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on the pacifist ending where Daniel falls off of the roof and Connor sacrifices himself to save Emma. Also, Simon shot himself on the tower.

When Connor had rushed up to Markus four days after the revolution, Markus had assumed something was horribly wrong. Connor had had a panic-stricken look on his face as his LED blinked a dangerous red/yellow combination, and he had grabbed Markus by the shoulders.

“Connor, what-”

“There are three androids in my partner’s car.” Connor said fervently, “Badly injured, I don’t know how they’re still alive.”

“Okay, calm down.” Markus loosened Connor’s grip from his shoulders, “Show me the way, we’ll get them to technicians.”

Connor grabbed his hand and ran to the police car waiting for them, where a human with a scruffy beard was struggling to hush one of the more active androids. Markus scanned him, noting his name. Lieutenant Hank Anderson. Markus nodded to Connor before getting close. “I’m here, I’ll show you the way to our medical facilities.”

“Oh thank God.” Hank glanced up, “You found him Connor. Markus, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person and all that shit, but these three are hurt really bad.”

“Three?” Connor asked, his eyes going wide.

Hank lowered his gaze, “I’m sorry kid. One of them didn’t make it.”

Connor pressed his lips together and took a deep breath, obviously focusing on helping the three living androids “Markus, I needed you specifically. One of them was calling out for you, I don’t know why.”

“Calling out for me?” Markus drew his eyebrows together and looked inside the car. It was gruesome, the androids were missing pieces and covered in blue thirium. He nearly choked when he recognised one of them. A bullet through his head, but somehow he still moved around in agony. “S-Simon?”

“Get in, they need medical attention.” Hank said, starting up the engine. 

Markus blinked, unfreezing and getting into the back seat, right next to the wounded androids. “Right.”

Connor sat in the front seat as Hank sped off. Markus grasped one of Simon’s hands, one of the only intact places on his body. The other androids were dead to the world, completely unconscious. “Simon, Simon, it’s me. It’s Markus.”

“N-no!” Simon curled up, his voice jagged and glitchy as he tried to yank his hand away “P-please, d-don’t-t-t do thiiis!”

“Simon, please!” Markus looked up, “Hank, turn left.”

Hank gave him a thumbs up from the front of the vehicle as Markus watched Simon shudder and shake. He scanned his injured friend, noting with horror that he had only seventeen minutes left. Guilt festered in his mind as he looked at the other two androids. He hadn’t given them the time of day yet. “Can you go faster?”

“Yeah, yeah, hang on!” Hank turned the corner and sped up, “which way now?”

“Another left, than an immediate right.” Markus scanned the other three androids. One lay on the ground, newly dead. Another was strapped in tight with a belt buckle, unconscious, but with twenty minutes remaining on their shutdown timer, the same model as Simon. The third was now barely conscious, their body swaying with the fast movements of the car in the middle seat, their countdown timer reading thirteen minutes. 

Markus tried to reassure the two conscious androids. The barely conscious android feebly  
grasped his hand back, obviously not caring who it was. Simon, on the other hand, whimpered and curled up tighter, pushing away weakly. “Two more rights, then go straight for two minutes. There should be a sign.” Markus said, hoping his fear didn’t show in his voice.

Connor turned around in his seat, a whirlpool of emotions on his face from anger to fear to...was that guilt? No time to think about it as Hank managed to find the mechanic’s place and pulled in. 

The four androids were carted off on sight, numerous android medics swarming them and taking them away. A few human mechanics were mixed in, to Hank’s surprise. Hank sighed. Today was supposed to be his day off, but of course, he had to get mixed up in this mess.

Not that he wasn’t glad the androids were getting medical attention, but Connor had nearly given him a heart attack when he’d ran into Hank’s room yelling at him to get up, that they needed to go to the DPD’s evidence room. Hank had followed along, the pure fear in Connor’s voice giving him a boost. 

When they had gotten to the DPD, they ignored the other officer’s questioning looks as they made their way to the evidence room. The past few days had been so hectic, no one had been down there in a while. When they went inside, the smell of thirium hit Hank’s nose so hard he nearly puked.

Hanging on the wall were four severely injured androids, all of them looking dead. Connor had gone straight to work, pulling parts from some and giving them to others, until all four of them were semi-conscious. They’d had help from some of the other officers as they put the androids in a police car and sped off to find a medical center.

Unfortunately, all of Cyberlife’s stores had been shut down, leaving very few places that androids could get repairs. Connor had insisted on finding Markus, thinking that he would know of a few technicians. Connor had called Markus and asked to meet up someplace near when one of the androids, the blond and blind one, had started to call out for him.

Now that they were inside of the hospital, he noticed a horrified and guilty look on Connor’s face, artificial tears in his eyes. Hank gently took his hand, trying to give the android a small reassurance. 

Markus had spoken to one of the front desk androids, thanked Hank and Connor for bringing his attention to this, and started pacing. Hank watched as the leader of the android revolution showed his ‘human’ side, nervousness and fear creeping into his body language. 

“So.” Hank tried to break the tension, “Human android medics?”

“What?” Markus paused in his strides, turning around, “Oh, yes. There are a few human technicians that are allowed to continue their work on androids. They’re kind people.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Hank noticed Connor twitch beside him as he pulled out his coin, “that blond android. He kept calling for you. Did you know him?”

“I-Yes.” Markus sat down, “he was a friend of mine. One of my closest friends, actually. He…”

“He was the one that shot himself on the Cyberlife tower, Hank.” Connor whispered, his hands shaking, “the one I felt die.”

“Shit.” Hank turned to the other android, “That was him?”

“Simon shot himself?!” Markus pressed a hand to his mouth, closing his eyes, “Fuck…”

The curse was not as shocking as seeing the man lose his composure before Hank’s very eyes. “How the hell is he alive?”

“I...I don’t…” Connor trembled harder, “The DPD hooked the androids up to something. They somehow rebooted them, but they needed certain pieces to function properly. I-I gave them those pieces.”

“You saved their lives.” Markus said, “thank you.”

“No.” Connor looked into Markus’s different colored eyes, “I was the one that got them killed. Simon shot himself because...because I found him on the roof and t-tried to probe his m-memory.”

Markus blinked, “you...the others….”

“My fault too.” a tear slipped down Connor’s face, “Daniel got shot because I lied to him. The-”

“Connor, you weren’t alive then.” Hank squeezed the boy’s hand harder, “You weren’t a deviant, you were being controlled.”

“I nearly shot Markus after I became deviant.” Connor squeezed his eyes shut, “A-Amanda. She took control of me again, I had the g-gun pointed at you.” he looked at Markus, whispering “I nearly killed you.”

“But you didn’t.” Markus bit his lip, a very human action in Hank’s book, “You controlled yourself again. I’m still alive, Simon’s alive, Daniels alive.”

“One of them’s dead.” Connor looked angry, “one of them is dead because of me.”

“Because of Cyberlife.” Hank corrected. “Listen, Amanda’s gone. You’re free, you’re alive. You won’t hurt people, I know you won’t.”

Markus was about to add something when a human nurse walked up to them, “Excuse me.”

They all looked up to her. She had a small thirium stain on her sleeve, but other than that she looked pristine, her black hair tied back in a bun, “My name is nurse Bonnie. The four androids you brought in were in different states of pre-shutdown. I’m very sorry, one of them, Bruce, didn’t make it.”

“We know.” Connor said, wiping his eyes, “he...he died before we got here.”

“Two of them, identified as Simon and Daniel, are not yet stable, but their outcome is looking positive.” she went on, reading from her clipboard “We don’t know how they survived that level of damage, but we will look into it if they recover. The other, Rupert, is still in critical condition.”

“Can we see them?” Hank asked, more for Markus and Connor’s sake than his own.

“Not now.” Bonnie said, shaking her head, “They are both struggling, It would be better if you waited.”

“Right. Thanks.”

“Of course.” Bonnie bowed her head before leaving. Hank looked at the two androids beside him. Connor was rolling his coin over his knuckles, something Hank had by now noticed was a nervous tick, instead of the recalibration Connor claimed it was. Markus had his hands folded and pressed against his mouth, looking like he was deep in thought. Connor’s LED circled yellow, with occasional flashes of red in between. Hank was sure his own LED would have been the same colors if he was an android.

“Markus. You don’t have an LED.” Hank noticed, trying to ease some of the tension. 

“I took mine out before the revolution to look more human.” Markus snapped out of his thoughts, “It’s not much use putting it back in.”

“Fair enough.” Hank said, rubbing his fingers over Connor’s empty hand, “You know, you did so much. Thank you. I know it doesn’t mean much coming from a human, but...you’ve really done so much for your people. I’m glad you’re all free.”

“Thank you, Mr. Anderson.” Markus gave him a small smile, “It means more than you know.”

“Please, call me Hank.” Hank smiled back.

Connor pocketed his coin and leaned back, “Do you think they’ll be okay?”

“I don’t know kid.” Hank’s smile disappeared, “But you did what you could, and that’s all we could have asked for right now.’


	2. Chapter 2

Another nurse, this one an android that went by Dorry, informed them approximately 8.3 hours after they had gotten there that Daniel was stabilized. Another hour and a half rolled by and Simon was announced out of the woods as well.

The relief that spilled into Markus’s heart was welcome, and he didn’t care that it showed on his face. Connor and Hank also loosened a bit, obviously having been worried for them as well.

A long three days later, in which Hank went home at night, Dorry led them through the mostly empty hallways of the makeshift medical center to two different rooms. Connor and Hank left Markus to go see Daniel after making sure it was okay. Markus was then led into a room a bit further down where Simon was being treated.

When Markus entered the room, he felt like crying. Simon was lying on a cot, his insides open to the world and his skin retracted. He was attached to monitors and an IV with medical grade thirium inside of it, with many tubes and wires sticking out of him. His body was mutilated, an arm gone and a healing bullet wound in his lower jaw. He was quiet, but his eyes dashed around in their sockets, unseeing as he gripped the bed underneath him. Nurses sat next to him, monitoring his vitals.

Markus swallowed before sitting in the chair offered to him. He tried touching Simon’s hand again, only for Simon’s cooling vents to hitch and sputter as he pulled away. “Simon?”

Simon stilled, “g-go.” his voice was a glitchy whisper, as fear washed over his face, “a-a-away.”

“Simon, it’s me. It’s Markus.” Markus didn’t touch him.

“Y-you saaaid th-th-that bef-fore.” Simon coughed, blue leaking out of his mouth. A quick thumbs up from the nurse told Markus it wasn’t too concerning. 

“Before?”

“G-g-go.” Simon’s voice crackled.

“Simon, will you interface with me?” Markus tried to keep his voice steady as he felt tears build in his eyes, “Please, I promise it’s me. I can prove it.”

Simon seemed to consider it before pulling away further, curling up as much as he could on the bed, “g-go.”

Markus looked up at the nurse, who gave him a sympathetic look and whispered, “I’ll talk to him. Maybe it’s best if you leave for now.”

Markus hesitated, but took her advice. He needed to clear his head, he needed to tell North and Josh why he had left so suddenly. He needed to tell them their friend was alive.

Connor hated this. Seeing Daniel on the bed, skinless, hooked up to machines and drips and all kinds of other things. Missing an arm and both legs. He hated himself for what he did to the android, and hated the fear that was in Daniel’s eyes as he watched Connor from his place on the bed.

“Daniel.” Connor’s voice broke, and he coughed to reset it, “Daniel, I-”

“C-Connor.” Daniel said, watching the other android’s every move. “Wh-why?”

“Why?” Connor asked, staying far in the corner of the room in case Daniel decided he was a threat.

“Why...a-a-re you here?”

“I found you in the evidence room. I...I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Connor blinked rapidly, trying to stave off more tears, “It’s my fault you’re like this.”

Daniel hummed, sinking further into the mattress. He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and reopened them, “Why d-do you c-c-care?”

“Because you were scared. You were alive, and I lied to you. I got you killed.”

“I-I’m ali-alive?”

Hank shot Connor a questioning look, but kept quiet. Connor stepped slightly closer, “Yes, Daniel. You’re alive, most androids are at this point. Markus led a revolution, and we’re free. We’re our own people.”

“Wh-who?” Daniel looked at Hank. 

Hank shook his head, “Not me. He’s with another android right now, I’m sure you’ll meet him later. I’m Hank, Connor’s friend.”

“We’re...alive.” Daniel’s voice was alight in aw, broken as it was. “We’re...free?”

“Yes.” Connor said, his voice rising slightly, “We’re living people, and...and that’s why you were scared that night on the roof. We called people like you -and me, now- deviants. But we’re alive, just like any human.”

Daniel’s simulated breathing suddenly stalled, “Emma. Is she…?”

“She’s okay.” Connor promised, “She was a little shaken” A lie, the poor girl was terrified “but she’s unharmed.”

Daniel closed his eyes, “g-good.”

“Daniel, I-”

“Sh…” Daniel tried to raise his hand, but it obviously hurt. “Sh...s’kay.”

“What?”

“You...followed…prgram.” Daniel frowned at the mispronunciation, “Int-interface?

Connor looked surprised at the request, but said, “If you want too, of course.” he slowly got closer, trying to move as smooth as possible as not to frighten the prone android. Daniel turned his hand up and Connor retracted his skin, touching Daniel’s remaining fingertips carefully. He felt Daniel access his memory, probing and looking around. He let it happen, fear bleeding into his systems as the memory of his first case started to play in his mind. The fish, the screen, the mother, Daniel on the ledge holding Emma, Daniel starting to fall backwards, pushing himself into Daniel and pushing Emma away as they both fell. Hitting the ground.

“-onnor. Connor!” Connor jolted out of the memory as Hank yanked his hand away from Daniel’s. Connor was shaking violently, his eyes unfocused. “Hey, kid, you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Connor stuttered, looking at Daniel, who’s eyes were squeezed shut, “Daniel?”

“Y-you saved her from m-me.” Daniel whispered, opening his eyes. They were wet. “Emma. I t-tried to...I pulled her over w-with me.”

“You were scared.” Hank said, watching Daniel’s eyes slide to him, “You had just deviated, not a lot of people knew what that was. You learned they were replacing you and...you just got scared.”

“I nearly k-killed her.”

“She’s alive. She’s okay.” Hank promised.

Daniel looked back at Connor. “Y-You lied t-t-to me.”

Connor pressed his lips tightly together, “I know. I’m..I’m sorry. I know it doesn't make up for what I did but-”

“No.” Daniel coughed, “N-no...you did what yooou had t-to do to save her. I...D-Don’t blame y-you anymore. You were-fol-following programs.”

Connor wiped his eyes, “You shouldn’t forgive me, I-”

“C-Cyberlife’s fault.” Daniel took a deep breath, “Not...yours…”

A knock on the door made Daniel flinch. Hank cleared his throat. “That’s a friend. Are you-”

“It’s okay.”

“Come in, Markus.” Hank called. Markus stepped inside after a moment, his eyes sweeping the scene. They landed on Daniel, who looked back at him tiredly. 

“Daniel, right?” Markus’s voice was soft as he approached. Daniel nodded, but stayed silent. “How are you feeling?”

“Numb.Tiii-” Daniel answered, clearing his throat awkwardly “tired.” 

Connor felt a tug on his arm and looked back. Hank was pulling him discreetly, his hand going to Connor’s, which he now noticed was holding tightly onto Daniel’s bedside. He let go and gave Daniel a small, “I’ll be back.” before he let Hank pull him out of the room.

Hank pulled him into a hug after they shut the door, squeezing him tight. “Hey, you okay?”

“I…” Connor hugged back, the feeling of Hank’s warm body against his own grounding him somewhat, “I don’t know. Y-you knew his case?”

“I looked into your first case a few days ago. I dunno why. I just wanted to see how you’d changed, I guess.”

“Oh.” Connor pulled away, “So…”

“You threw yourself off of a building to save a little girl.”

“I lied to Daniel. I got him killed.”

“He’s alive now. He’s okay. You were just following a program.” Hank patted his shoulder, “It wasn’t...his death wasn’t your fault.”

“He forgave me, Hank. I killed him, and he forgave me! Like I’d pranked him, or stole something from him! But I-I lied to him, and killed him!”

“You didn’t kill him, he jumped off of a building.”

“I told him that he could live if he let Emma go. I lied, he wouldn’t have been spared. I would have shot him, or a sniper would have shot him. I-”

“You were a program, Connor. That’s all, a program on legs, designed to finish a task at any cost. But now you’re alive, you’re free. You make your choices. You can accept his forgiveness, help him heal, fuck, maybe the two of you could even become friends.”

Connor pressed his lips together as a small whimper escaped his voice module. Hank pulled him in for another hug, holding him close. They were all so broken, but maybe they could heal together.


	3. Chapter 3

Daniel’s day hadn’t been great. Waking up to pain, to the face of Connor, had been terrifying. Pain as he was taken off of a rack, pain as he was shoved into a car, pain as he felt someone unfamiliar grab his hand. Numbness as lines and wires were stuck into him. Fear as the door opened and the deviant hunter entered, with a human companion. Confusion as he recognised the emotions on Connor’s face. Guilt, sadness, fear. Understanding as he realized that Connor was like him now, somehow. A confusing flash of emotions as Connor told him what he had missed. Androids were free. They were alive, with feelings and emotion. 

He knew he couldn’t hate Connor anymore. Not now that he knew. Connor hadn’t been alive, he’d been following orders, just like Daniel had. He’d saved Emma from Daniel and for that, Daniel was thankful. 

Connor had looked conflicted when the human had tugged him away, leaving him with Markus. “Hi.”

“H-hey.” Daniel noticed Markus was trying to keep it together, his joints stiff and his eyes blinking rapidly. “y-You’re M-Markus?”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Markus sat down in an empty chair, “You’re Daniel?”

“Hhhhyes.”

“You deviated before the revolution, right? Did Connor fill you in?” When Daniel shook his head slowly, Markus gave him a small smile, “That’s okay. I’ll tell you about it when you’re healed.”

“The...others?”

“The other androids in the evidence room were brought here with you.” Markus said, “One...one didn’t make it. But the other two are receiving medical care, and they’re going to be okay.”

Daniel swallowed, “Who…?”

“The android who passed was named Bruce. Did you know him?”

“No...I saw him in the room. Once, when Connor….reactivated m-me.”

Daniel saw the gears turning in Markus’s head, but the other android didn’t say anything. Daniel blinked as a monitor started beeping faster. A nurse came in and pushed Markus to the side, checking on his vitals. “You’re all right.” he said after a moment, “it's a small fracture opening in a thirium line. It will patch itself up.”

Daniel felt a gentle hand on his own. The same one that held his hand in the car in his agony. “You’re li-like...android J-Jesus?” Daniel asked, focusing on the thumb rubbing circles into the pure white plastic.

Markus laughed, “No. I’m just someone who got lucky.”

“Hm…” Daniel closed his eyes.

“Tired?”

“I sh-shouldn’t be. Am a….Hou-household android-d-d. ”

“Deviancy changed a lot of our programs.” Markus said, “We get tired now, even household androids. Hell, even detective androids.”

Daniel hummed again, letting his body relax a little, focusing on the feeling of Markus’s hand in his own. It felt...comforting. Yeah, that was the word. Comfort.

Rupert died only a few minutes later.

“I’m so sorry, there was nothing we could do.” Bonnie said, her words little comfort, “He was stabilized for a while, but something went wrong with his thirium pump, and his body just stopped functioning.”

Connor gripped Hank’s hand tightly, “I know you all did what you could. Thank you for letting us know.”

“Of course. If you’d like to say goodbye…?”

“No.” Connor said immediately, “No, I-I didn’t know him. Not really.”

Hank knew it was more than that. Connor blamed himself, like he blamed himself for Daniel. Like he blamed himself for Simon, and Bruce too. The poor kid had so much guilt on his shoulders that wasn’t his. Hank thanked Bonnie and squeezed Connor’s hand again. “You wanna go home kid?”

“I need to make sure Daniel and Simon are okay.” Connor whispered, “When they’re cleared I’ll go home. You don’t need to stay, I know-”

“No way, I’m staying right here.” Hank said, “listen, why don’t we go check up on Simon, yeah? You’ve seen Daniel, maybe if you see Simon you’ll be a little more at ease.”

Connor doubted it, but he followed Hank anyways as the detective pulled him into another room. Simon was sleeping, his damaged eyes closed. The technician at his bedside looked like he had been in the wind, his long hair straggly and his clothes rumpled.

“He tried to get out.” The man said quietly upon seeing the two detectives, “he fought, but he’s tired and injured. He’s in a forced stasis for now.”

Connor nodded, brushing a hand over Simon’s shoulder. “He’s going to be okay, right?”

“Physically, we managed to save him, yes. He’ll be okay, barring any unpredictable complications.” the man said, “Mentaly...he shot himself. That’s going to leave a lot of trauma.”

Connor knew. He had felt Simon die.

He suddenly felt angry. At Cyberlife, at the DPD, at Amanda, at himself. He turned around and left the room, leaving behind a very confused and concerned Hank. 

Simon was terrified. One moment he was shooting himself as he felt the deviant hunter access his memory, the next he woke up to blackness, to Markus’s voice, to the feeling of relief. Only for that relief to be betrayed as Markus accessed his memory and fled. He knew it wasn’t Markus, then. Markus wouldn’t have done something like that, someone must have copied his voice.

He knew he was laying in some kind of hospital now, gentle voices and gentle hands easing his pain and reassuring him. It made him feel trapped.

A cough wracked his chest as his body tried to remove the extra thirirum in his throat, and he whimpered. It hurt. He swallowed, clutching the bedsheets under him for some kind of support. A gentle but firm hand helped him sit up and rubbed his back as he expelled thirium into some kind of bucket placed on his lap. 

“It’s alright, Simon. You’re doing great.” The woman’s voice was soft, gentle. He didn’t trust it, but it didn’t trigger his flight or fight reflexes like certain voices. 

He shivered, “I…”

“Sh...you don’t need to talk.” 

He strained his eyes to try and see her-to see something, but he could only see black. “Eyes…?”

“We’re going to replace your eyes and the sensors connecting them once you’ve healed a little more. I don’t want to put too much strain on your body right now.” The woman put a hand on his back, and Simon felt a spike of panic.

“Don-Don’t….touch” he spat into the bucket.

“Okay.” She backed off, letting him lie down by himself as she took the bucket off of his lap. 

“Who…? Before?” Simon swallowed.

“A friend of yours came in a few hours ago. His name was Markus.” she told him, “He said he spoke with you.”

“Not real.” Simon frowned, “Markus…”

“I assure you, he was very real.”

“No...no, he’s d-done this before.” Simon felt his thirium pump speeding up, “S-Someone...they-they copied his voice, they-”

“Simon, please calm down.” The woman gently tugged the blankets around his shoulders, “Your body can’t handle stress right now, I promise you, it really was Markus.”

“No!” Simon curled up, “No, yo-you’re lying! I can’t-trust you! I don’t know-”

“Simon.” The woman interrupted, “It’s okay. No one’s going to hurt you here, I promise. You’re okay now, Markus really was here.”

“Pr-prove it.” Simon hissed, nearly choking on more blue blood.

“Will you interface with Markus? That will prove it.” 

Simon felt like a pit had been opened in his chest, “...I’m-no.”

“It’s the only way we can prove it. Please, Simon.”

Simon swallowed, touching the underside of his chin. The bullet scar was still healing, but it seemed to help ground him in reality. “...okay.”

“Markus?” An android nudged the door open, making Markus and Daniel turn to look at him, “Simon wants to see you.”

“He does?” Markus frowned, “He-Okay. I’ll be there in a second.” he turned to Daniel, “Simon is my friend, I-”

“It’s okay.” Daniel gave him a forced smile, “I’-I’m tired anywayyys.”

“You’ll be okay?”

Daniel nodded, closing his eyes. Markus gave his hand a squeeze before he stood and followed the other android out of the room. The hallway was quiet, and Markus was at Simon’s room door in seconds. 

The android pushed open the door. Simon was talking to the nurse in the room quietly, his voice cracking and glitching every few words. Markus stood a few feet away from him and kept his voice as gentle as he could as he spoke. “Simon?”

He pressed his lips together sadly as Simon tensed up at his voice, his head whipping around with unseeing eyes. “M-M-Markus?” Simon asked slowly, gripping his blankets.

“I’m here.” Markus got closer, making sure Simon could hear his shoes tapping on the floor so as not to scare him, “You wanted to see me?”

“I need-” Simon was cut off with a cough and a small whimper, “I-Want…to kno-know you’re real.”

“I’m real, I swear.” Markus knelt down beside the bed, not touching.

“Int-tiner face.” Simon slowly moved his arm, “interface? P-prove-”

“Okay.” Markus slowly slipped his fingers into Simon’s, ignoring the flinch it caused. He retracted his skin as he felt Simon’s weak probe, and gently let memories do the talking. Simon inhaled sharply as his mind was filled with memories of the revolution - Markus’s memories.

Simon gripping Markus’s hand tighter, “You’re real.”

“I’m real.” Markus clasped Simon’s hands in both of his own, gently rubbing a finger over his knuckles. He gasped when Simon lurched upward and fumbled around until he felt Markus’s shoulders and hooked his arms around them.

The nurse obviously had been expecting this, as she gently held his back to keep him from falling over as he held onto Markus like his life depended on it. “Mar-Markus! Markus…” Simon sobbed, his arms shaking even though his grip was weak. Markus hesitated only for a moment before returning the hug, holding him in a firm grip that he hoped would let Simon know he wasn’t alone. Simon buried his face in Markus’s neck, repeating his name over and over again.

“Simon, hey.” Markus gently cupped his friend’s naked head, wishing he had his hair activated so Markus could run his fingers through it. He settled for rubbing his head and whispering soft reassuring words. “It’s okay, everything’s okay now.”

Simon started coughing up blue blood after a few minutes of being held, and Markus gently put him back on the bed. The nurse wiped his mouth and fiddled with a few wires and pumps before giving Markus a reassuring smile. 

Markus kept holding Simon’s hand, making sure his friend knew he was still there when Simon spoke, his voice a small mumble “Wha-What happened?”

Markus chuckled softly, “Now that’s a story and a half.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter this time, sorry about that.

North opened her eyes and jumped up from the couch she had been sitting on when she received Markus’s message. “Josh!” she stood in front of the TV and grabbed his hand, “We need to go, Markus just sent me a message. Simon’s alive.”

“Simon’s...alive?” Josh stood quickly, grabbing his coat from the armrest, “How?”

“Markus didn’t tell me, but he said he'd explain as soon as we got to the hospital.” North opened the door and dashed down the hall, Josh quick on her heels. The trip to the car was fast, and North peeled out of the driveway so fast Josh was worried they’d get pulled over. Of course, fast driving meant they found the hospital fairly quickly, so he couldn’t worry too much.

The receptionist told them where to go once they got inside, and they both speed-walked down the hallways. Once they got to the room where Simon supposedly was, they both took a moment to calm down before opening the door.

“Markus?” North asked, eyes immediately on her lover. 

Markus turned and gave them both a smile. “North, Josh. Simon’s here, he’s okay.” he sat back a bit, revealing the skinless, naked, and injured form of their friend. Josh gasped and rushed to Simon’s side, his hands hovering over his body before Markus put a hand on his shoulder, “He’s okay, Josh. He’s just sleeping now.”

“How is this possible?” North asked.

“I’m not entirely sure. Connor and his human friend Hank brought him to me, along with a few others. We have yet to talk about it completely.”

“Connor?” Josh looked up.

“Human friend?” North narrowed her eyes.

Markus sighed, “He’s a good man, North. If Connor trusts him, so do I.”

“...Fine.” North looked down at Simon, and her eyes softened, “Has he been awake yet?”

“Yes, but he’s blind, something’s wrong with his eyes. They say they can fix it, but it’ll take a while. He knew it was me after we interfaced but...he was scared.” Markus rubbed   
Simon’s hand with his free one. “He’s going to have a hard time even after he’s healed.”

“Damn.” Josh put his head in his hands, “We shouldn’t have left him on that tower.”

“We didn’t have a choice.” North insisted.

“North is right, Josh.” Markus said, “As much as I hated doing it, leaving Simon was the only thing we could do at the time.”

“I know... That still doesn’t make it any better.” Josh looked up, “That doesn’t make up for the fact that Simon’s going to be traumatized.”

“We’ll help him.” Markus said, “We’ll help him get through it.”

“Of course we will.” North put her hand on Markus’s shoulder, “But...will it do anything?”

“I don’t know. We’ll do what we can to help, and if it helps then fantastic. If it doesn’t…” Markus trailed off. 

“It’ll help. It has too.” Josh said.

“I hope.”

Hank found Connor in a bathroom stall. He gently knocked, knowing androids didn’t need to use restrooms, “Connor buddy. Come on out.”

“Hank I-”

“Connor, please. I wanna talk to you.” After a few moments the door opened, revealing the tear-stained face of Connor. Hank enveloped him in a hug, “Connor, you’re hurting, I can see that. You don’t need to bottle yourself up okay? Just talk to me.”

Connor slowly returned the hug, his body shuddering, “H-Hank...I-I hurt them. They’re in here because of me!”

“That’s not true.” Hank pulled away and cupped the android’s chin, looking him in the eye, “You were just a machine back then, just following orders. You had no choice, those android’s injuries are not on your hands.”

“It’s not just injuries - Bruce and Rupert are dead!” another tear fell down Connor’s cheek, and Hank gently wiped it away.

“Connor, they killed themselves. It wasn’t your-”

“But it was!” Connor pulled away, “Bruce killed himself because I made his stress levels too high! Rupert killed himself because we chased him!”

Hank saw Connor’s LED circle red, “Connor, what are your stress levels?”

“Wha-”

“Connor.”

“...89.” Connor mumbled, “It’s fine.”

“Come on, kid. Let’s go sit down.” Hank gently tugged on the young android’s hand, “We’ll get you calmed down.”

“...okay.” Connor wiped his eyes, “I’m sorry, Hank.”

“The fuck are you sorry for?” Hank narrowed his eyes as they left the bathroom.

“I’m messing everything up. I shouldn’t be acting like this.”

“Connor, this whole thing is fucking traumatizing.” Hank sighed, “You’re acting just like anyone else would. It’s going to be okay, I promise. Daniel seems to be warming up to you, we’ll go visit him once you’ve calmed down, okay?”

Connor squeezed Hank’s hand, “Okay.”

“Good.” Hank gave the boy a smile, “Now, I’m starving too. I wonder if they have a human cafeteria here…”

Connor let out a wet laugh, and Hank felt a bit of relief. That was a good sign, right?

“Daniel?” 

Daniel turned away from where he was talking with a nurse, and locked eyes on Hank and Connor. “Hey.”

“Are you any better?” Connor asked, fiddling with a coin in his fingers.

“I’m not in pain anymore. They did something with my sensors.” Daniel smiled, “And my voice isn’t choppy anymore, so that’s great.”

“That’s good.” Connor sat down next to him, Hank hanging in the back and giving them some space.

“...Connor?”

“Yes?”

“Is...Does Emma know? That I’m alive, I mean.” Daniel didn’t meet Connor’s gaze.

“No. She’s with her mother in a new apartment, but she doesn’t know.” Connor hesitated, “Would you like me to contact her and let her know? Let her family know?”

“I don’t know.” Daniel felt something sting behind his eyes and frowned, “I don’t want to scare her-I- shit.”

“You were scared, I know that feeling.” 

“I tried to kill her.”

“You didn’t.”

“Only because you were there to stop me.” Daniel looked at the other android, “You pushed me off of the roof. You sacrificed yourself to save her life.”

“I was just following orders.” Connor protested, “It wasn’t me.”

“Still…” Daniel looked at the only human in the room, “Hank, right?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s me.” Hank gave an awkward half-wave, moving closer, “I’m Hank Anderson.”

“It’s...nice to meet you, Hank Anderson.” Daniel coughed for a moment, then reset his voice box, “Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Hank shrugged, “So, you’ll be up and about soon, right?”

“That’s the hope.” Daniel’s LED flickered red for a moment, “I...I’ll go to prison, won’t I? For what I did…”

“Don’t worry about that right now.” Connor said, “We’ll figure it out, I promise.”

Daniel didn’t mention that the last time Connor had promised something, he’d been shot. He knew Connor wasn’t like that anymore, but it still came to his mind. “Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for slow updates on all of my fics, I'm working on a lot of them at the same time and also I have a lot of work I need to get through. I'm also making cosplay's and things so. Lotsa stuff.

**Author's Note:**

> Bruce is the name of the android that killed his owner at the beginning of the game. It's not his real name, just a headcanon.


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